


Slow Orbit

by dryswallow



Category: Nabari no Ou
Genre: M/M, softcore consent porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 16:44:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/813752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryswallow/pseuds/dryswallow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After all that has happened in the past year, the respite offered by their evenings is fully welcome. They have so much time; time to sleep and to talk, time to do nothing but lay curled against each other. There is time to go as gradually as they need to, circling in slow orbit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Orbit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enflashings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enflashings/gifts).



> post manga canon by at least a few months. gau is listening to dmitri shostakovich's piano trio no.2 in e.

Some evenings they do almost nothing. After dinner is finished and the dishes have been washed, Gau usually finds himself in the bedroom, crouched over his desk with the schoolwork he refuses to neglect. Following that, he and Raikou usually end up in bed, even if there are hours before they need to sleep. After all that has happened in the past year, the respite offered by their evenings is fully welcome. They have so much time; time to sleep and to talk, time to do nothing but lay curled against each other. There is time to go as gradually as they need to, circling in slow orbit.

Tonight, Gau thinks, the same as most nights, he is lucky. His homework is done and the apartment is clean, leaving him free to do whatever he wishes while he waits for Raikou to finish showering. For now he can rest, stretched out on the bed he and Raikou have decided to share with his discman sitting next to him. He has had more opportunity to listen to his music recently, and to have Raikou listen to it with him. He knows that classical music is not what Raikou prefers, but having Raikou listen to the songs he likes best still feels significant in its own way.

Gau hits pause the moment he hears the bedroom door open. Eyes closed, he waits for the footsteps; they cross first to the dresser (he can hear something being placed on its surface - the hairbrush, he guesses) before heading for the bed.

“What are you listening to?”

When Gau opens his eyes, Raikou is perched on the edge of the mattress, wrapped in a turquoise bathrobe. His hair is still damp, dripping, and Gau can see small drops of water on the flushed skin of Raikou's neck and chest.

“A piano trio,” Gau answers. He removes one of his earbuds and holds it out to Raikou in offering.

Raikou takes the earbud, then stretches out beside Gau on the bed. His hair is going to get the pillow all wet, Gau knows, but he closes his eyes and chooses not to say anything. He skips back to the beginning of the song, then pushes play. The first notes of the Allegretto start in his left ear, their staccato tones quiet and familiar. The Allegretto has become his favourite part of the trio; it reaches moments of chaos, of frenzy and dizziness, but its final moments are soft and still.

“You've been listening to this one a lot lately, haven't you?” Raikou says once the movement has finished and the CD has spun to a stop.

“I have. Songs like this get better the more you listen to them,” Gau says, opening his eyes again.

“Oh?”

“I think they do, at least,” Gau says, then stops, closing his mouth to keep the explanation from bursting outwards.

Raikou smiles at his hesitation. “Go on. I like to hear you talk about it.”

Gau grins, filled with eagerness and pride. He turns onto his side so he can face Raikou as he talks.

“I start to know the songs pretty well when I've listened to them a lot,” he starts. “I know what's coming next, so I anticipate it and it becomes very... satisfying, to be able to follow along with the song. It feels-” He gestures to his chest. “It feels like the music is pulling me along, and that it's part of me at the same time.”

Raikou tilts his head to one side. “I see.”

“You don't have to pretend if it doesn't make any sense to you,” Gau says quickly.

“No, it does make sense,” Raikou says. “If it feels that way for you, then it makes sense.”

Spurred on by Raikou's answer, Gau's excitement refuses to fade. It feels like bubbles are filling his chest, making him even talkative, eager to share. He and Raikou have known each other for a few months more than a year now, and despite all that they have experienced together, Gau feels as though he is always finding new things he wants to tell Raikou.

He reaches for Raikou's hand and fits their palms together.

“I told you it was my mom who gave most of the CDs to me, right?” Gau waits for Raikou's nod before continuing. “I think she did it because- well, I wanted to take music lessons but there's no way we would have been able to afford it. So we listened to the radio and when I heard something I really liked, sometimes she'd get the CD for me.”

“Does listening to them remind you of her?” Raikou asks after a pause.

If it had come from another person's mouth, the question could be the result of nothing more than curiosity, but from Raikou it feels weighty, important. They have talked of Gau's mother's death before, and Raikou knows what it has meant for him. They have spoken of Raikou's mother as well, but in less detail.

This, too, is something they have shared.

“Mm,” Gau says, finally. “Some of them more than others.”

“I thought so.” Raikou smiles, his thumb running circles in the middle of Gau's palm. “I'm glad. It sounds like she took good care of you.”

Raikou's eyes have drifted downwards to focus on the meeting of their hands. Gently, he grasps Gau's hand and turns it upwards so he can begin to trace the lines that cross Gau's palm with his thumb.

“What are you doing?” Gau asks.

“Reading your palm,” Raikou tells him solemnly, though by now his thumb has moved upwards to brush over Gau's wrist as well. The touch is slight but enough to make Gau's entire body centre on that one patch of skin and the warmth of Raikou's hand against it. Gau wants to move even closer, to roll up his shirtsleeve so Raikou can follow his pale veins as far up Gau's arm as he can, until they dip too far beneath his skin and disappear from sight.

Raikou's touch is familiar to him now. His body remembers it and has started to react expectantly, feeling electric in all the places he wants to be touched.

“Raikou-san,” Gau murmurs.

“What is it?” Raikou asks. His thumb drifts lazily up Gau's forearm and back down again.

Again, Gau hesitates.

“I want you to kiss me,” he admits.

“Mm,” Raikou hums softly.

Without lifting his eyes, he brings Gau's hand to his mouth and presses his lips to Gau's knuckles.

“I-” Gau stammers, “I meant on my mouth.”

“Did you?” Raikou asks, and tilts onto his side. Still holding one of Gau's hands within his own, he presses his lips to Gau's. The kiss is warm, and Raikou lingers for long to enough to remind Gau of the depth of his want before he begins to pull away. Gau worries for a moment that he will have to specify that he wants many kisses rather than just one, but before he can speak, Raikou has leaned back in. The next kisses are harder but just as slow as the first, and Gau finds it difficult not to tug at Raikou's sleeve, urging Raikou to pull Gau's body tight against his own. Instead his fingers sweep over the skin just beneath the hems of Raikou's bathrobe. When he feels Raikou beginning to lean into his touch, he lets his hands push further, finding the muscles of Raikou's chest and shoulders.

Once again, Gau finds himself noticing how Raikou's movements feel measured. His touches against Gau's stomach and back have become hesitant and nervous. Gau expects some amount of uncertainty; they are, after all, new to this. But right now Raikou's gestures seem less cautiously experimental and more like something scared.

“Is this okay?” Gau asks, feeling that he needs to say something.

“What do you mean?” Raikou murmurs, leaning back.

Gau pauses. “I think I mean,” he says, “is this what you want to be doing?”

Raikou looks startled, eyes wide. Gau feels himself a slight panic begin inside of himself, throat stinging with fear that he has been careless, that he has somehow hurt Raikou.

“Yes,” Raikou answers. “Of course, Gau, as long as you–”

“Good,” Gau says. “Because I want to be doing this too. And I like to do it, so...”

He trails off, not knowing what words would be best. He isn't exactly sure what it is Raikou needs – reassurance? encouragement? acknowledgement? – but he's willing to provide what he can.

“So it's okay,” he finishes, smiling. And then, “I love you.”

“Gau,” Raikou says, almost a sigh. He closes his eyes for a moment, seeming to bring some part of himself to order.

“I love you,” he returns, voice soft but certain.

No matter how many times Gau hears Raikou say those words, it still delights him. He leans in to press his mouth to the warm skin of Raikou's neck, pleased at Raikou's quiet gasp, at how Raikou pushes his fingers through Gau's hair and begins to tug.

The sound of their bodies moving against each other seems shockingly loud in the silence of their apartment, but, Gau reminds himself, there is no one else that can hear it. Raimei is out seeing a movie with some of her school friends and won't be back for another hour at least. There is no one to hear them if they keep going, exploring each other until the evening is spent.

They have time.


End file.
